What! When a misfortune
befell you while you had certainly afflicted (the unbelievers) with
twice as much, you began to say: "Whence is this?" Say: " It is from your
own selves; surely Allah has power over all things" (165) And what befell
you on the day when the two armies met (at Uhud) was with Allah's
permission, and that He might know the believers (166), And that He might
know the hypocrites; and it was said to them: "Come, fight in Allah's way,
or (at least) defend yourselves." They said: "If we knew fighting,
we would certainly have followed you. " They were on that day much nearer
to unbelief than to belief. They say with their mouths what is not in
their hearts; and Allah best knows what they conceal (167). Those
who said of their brethren whilst they (themselves) held back:
"Had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed." Say.
"Then ward off death from yourselves if you are truthful" (168).
And reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay,
they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord (169),
Rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace, and they rejoice
for the sake of those who, (being left) behind them, have not yet
joined them, that they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve
(170). They rejoice on account of favor from Allah and (His)
grace, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers
(171).

COMMENTARY

It is the conclusion of the
verses about the battle of Uhud. These verses describe the position of
some hypocrites who had deserted the believers when they were proceeding
from Madina to Uhud, and refute what they were saying about those who were
slain in the way of Allah; then the verses extol the condition of the
martyrs saying that they were enjoying Allah's bounties in His presence
and were happily waiting for their brothers who were left behind in this
world.

QUR'AN: What! When a misfortune
befell you . . . Allah has power over all things":

First they were told not to
be like the unbelievers — grieving and feeling intense sorrow for their
slain brethren. It was explained to them that life and death were
exclusively in the hands of Allah, they had no concern in this affair; and
it would have made no difference whether the martyrs were near them or far
from them, or whether they had gone forth to fight or sat behind.
After making all this clear, now Allah explains the immediate cause
of that disaster according to the law of causality. He tells them that
debacle was caused by their disobedience which they committed on that day:
the disobedience of the archers when they left their position, and then
the disobedience of all those who fled away from the battlefield. In
short, the disaster took place because they disobeyed the Messenger, their
Commander, and showed lack of courage and disputed among themselves. All
this led to their retreat according to the law of nature and
custom.

The verse's meaning is
therefore as follows: Do you know how this misfortune befell you? Was it
not a misfortune that you had previously inflicted twice as much on your
enemies, the unbelievers? This time the disaster was brought on you by
your own selves. It were you who undermined the means of victory with your
own hands; it were you who did not follow the clear order of your
Commander, fell into temptation and disputed one with the
other.

The clause, "while you
had certainly afflicted (the unbelievers) with twice as much",
prompts them to compare their losses in Uhud (martyrdom of seventy
believers) with those suffered by the unbelievers in Badr when they had
suffered twice as many casualties — as seventy of the unbelievers were
slain and seventy taken prisoners.

This description is intended
to soothe the believers' feelings, making the calamity look less
devastating. After all, they have suffered only half of that, which they
had inflicted on their enemies; so they should not grieve, should not be
distressed.

Some people have explained
it differently. According to them the clause, "It is from your own
selves", means that you yourselves had opted for this misfortune. It
happened like this: They had chosen to release the prisoners of Badr in
exchange for ransom. But the initial order was to kill them; and they were
warned that if they accepted the ransom, a similar number from their side
would be killed next year; but they said: "We agree to this condition. We
shall take the ransom and enjoy its benefits; and if one of us is killed
later on, he shall be a martyr. "

The ending clause of this
verse (surely Allah has power over all things) supports, or rather
proves, this latter explanation; as this clause does not connect properly
with the former meaning. We shall quote in the next "Traditions"
ahadith from the Imams of the Ahlu 'I-bayts (a.s.) regarding
this topic.

QUR'AN:And what befell
you on the day …and Allah best knows what they conceal:

The first of these two
verses supports the above theme that the clause, "Say:'It is
from you own selves' ", refers to their opting for the ransom in
exchange of Badr's prisoners and agreeing to the attached condition. Only
in this way, it can be said that the misfortune that befell them in Uhud
was with Allah's permission. As for the former explanation, (that the
immediate cause of this misfortune was your disobedience), it has no
relevance with this verse; obviously, there is no sense in saying that
their disobedience was by permission of Allah.

Accordingly, the statement
that the misfortune that had befallen them was by Allah's permission
explains the preceding declaration that it was from their own selves. It
paves the way of the next clause, "and that He might know the believers",
which in its turn opens the way to deal with the hypocrites, together with
their talk and its refutation; and to unveil the reality of this especial
death, i.e., martyrdom in the way of Allah.

The clause, "or (at
least) defend yourselves", intends to persuade them to fight; if
you do not fight in the way of Allah, then at least defend your families
and your own selves. "They were on that day much nearer to unbelief
than to belief." The preposition "li" in "li 'l-kufr"
(to unbelief) and "li 'l-iman" (to belief) has been used in meaning
of "to". It shows their position vis-à-vis open disbelief; as for
hypocrisy, they had certainly fallen in it.

The word, "with their
mouths", in the sentence, "They say with their mouths what is not
in their hearts", has been put here for emphasis and as a
counter-balance to the clause, "in their hearts".

QUR'AN:Those who said of their
brethren. . . if you are truthful:

The word, "brethren"
refers to those with whom they had family ties from among the martyrs.
Allah has mentioned here their "brotherhood", side by side with the
comment, "while they (themselves) held back"; it is meant to
put them to shame in a most vivid and crushing way, showing that they held
back from helping their own brothers who were meanwhile massacred by the
enemy. The sentence, "Say:'Then ward off death from
yourselves'", refutes their talk. ad-Dar' (to ward off; to
avert) .

QUR'AN:And reckon not those who
are killed in Allah's way. . . provided sustenance from their
Lord:

Again the speaker turns away
from the Muslims and speaks with the Prophet alone; and its reason has
been mentioned several times in Commentaries of the relevant
verses.

Also, it is possible to
treat this address as continuation of the preceding sentence where it
addresses the Prophet, "Say: Then ward off
death. . .'.

Death in this verse means
nullity of consciousness and action. That is why Allah explains the
martyrs' life by showing that they receive sustenance (and it is action)
and rejoice in Allah's grace (and it shows their feeling which proves
consciousness).

QUR'AN: Rejoicing in what Allah has
given them. . . nor shall they grieve: "al-Farah " is opposite of
"al-huzn" (sorrow). al-Bisharah and al-bushra (good news); al-istibshar
(to seek
happiness through a good news). The verse means: They rejoice in
what they have received of Allah's grace and which is always present with
them; they feel happy when they receive the good tidings regarding those
who have not yet joined them - are still in this world - that they shall
have no fear nor shall they grieve.

Two things are clear from
the above:

First: Those who are killed in the
way of Allah continue to receive the news about good believers whom they
had left alive in this world.

Second: The good news concerns the
reward of the believers' deeds —that they shall have no fear nor shall
they grieve. It happens that they see this reward in the abode, which they
abide in. It is because their knowledge of things emanates from
observation, not from arguments.

The verse therefore proves
that after death man's existence continues between his death and the Day
of Resurrection. We have described it in detail under "The Life of
al-Barzakh" under the verse, And do not speak of those who are slain in
Allah's way as dead (2:154).

QUR'AN:They rejoice on
account of favor from Allah and (His) grace . . . the reward of the
believers:

This rejoicing is more
comprehensive and covers their joy for others as well as for themselves.
It is proved from the clause, "and that Allah will not waste the reward
of the believers", which being unrestricted covers all the believers.
Perhaps this is the reason why the "rejoicing" and also
"grace" have been repeated here. Meditate on this verse.

The words, "favor"
and "grace", have been used as common nouns, and "sustenance" has
been left unspecified. This style gives the hearer's imagination full
rein; he is free to visualize whatever he likes. Likewise fear and grief
are left vague, so that put in negative form they would signify
comprehensiveness.

One finds on meditating on
the verse that:

First: The verses intend to
describe the believers' reward;

Second: That reward consists of
their sustenance near Allah;

Third: That
sustenance is a favor and grace from Allah;

Fourth: That favor
and grace is mirrored in the fact that they shall have no fear nor shall
they grieve.

The clause, "that they
shall have no fear nor shall they grieve", is really wonderful; the
more you meditate on it, the more expansive and extensive its meaning will
be, with its subtlety, sublimity and graceful flow. The thing that comes
before the eyes is that the fear and sorrow are removed from the martyrs.
Fear takes shape when there is possibility of something occurring which
would nullify an existing happiness of man; sorrow appears when that thing
has already happened. Misfortune — or any undesirable phenomenon — is
feared as long as it has not befallen; but once it has begun, the fear
gives way to sorrow. There is no fear after a misfortune has taken shape,
and no sorrow before that.

Fear, with all its aspects,
may be removed from man only when there is no chance of deterioration or
extinction for any bounty that he enjoys and possesses. Sorrow, with all
its aspects, may be removed from him only when he is not deprived of any
such bounty to begin with, nor has he lost it after finding it. When the
Qur'an says that Allah has removed general fear and general sorrow from a
man, it means that He has given him all possible bounties and favors for
his enjoyment; and those bounties and favors will never deteriorate or be
taken away from him. In other words, man will remain alive forever
enjoying the everlasting happiness.

It is evident that removal
of fear and sorrow means the same as man's receiving sustenance from
Allah; He says: and that which is with Allah is best for the righteous
(3:198); and what is with Allah is enduring (16:96).
These two verses show that what is with Allah is everlasting and
enduring bounty, not tainted by any affliction, not liable to
extinction.

Also, it is clear that
negation of fear and sorrow is one with affirmation of favor and grace
that is, divine bounty. But we have explained in the beginning of the book
(and further details will be given under the verse, . . . with those
upon whom Allah has bestowed favors...4:69) that "favor",
whenever used in the Qur'an, means divine guardianship. Therefore, this
verse means that Allah is their Guardian Who manages their affairs and
bestows on them exclusive grace.

Some people have supposed
that "grace" means a bounty given in excess of what a man's deeds have
made him eligible to; and "favor" means the bounty equal to the deeds. But
it does not enmesh with the end clause, "and that Allah will not waste
the reward of the believers". The word, "reward", shows that
they are "eligible " for grace and favor both; and you have seen
that all these clauses, "are provided sustenance from their Lord","Rejoicing in what Allah has given", "They rejoice on account of
favor from Allah and (His) grace", "and Allah will not waste the
reward of the believers", lead to one and the same reality.

There are other aspects of
these verses, some of which were explained under the verse, And do not
speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead (2:154); hopefully
Allah will help us to complete, according to our capacity, other related
matters in other appropriate places, God willing.